title: Development of a survey to identify vaccine-hesitant parents: the parent attitudes about childhood vaccines survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a survey to accurately assess parental vaccine hesitancy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The initial survey contained 17 items in four content domains: (1) immunization behavior; (2) beliefs about vaccine safety and efficacy; (3) attitudes about vaccine mandates and exemptions; and (4) trust. Focus group data yielded an additional 10 survey items. Expert review of the survey resulted in the deletion of nine of 27 items and revisions to 11 of the remaining 18 survey items. Parent pretesting resulted in the deletion of one item, the addition of one item, the revision of four items, and formatting changes to enhance usability. The final survey contains 18 items in the original four content domains.
  
  
  METHODS
  An iterative process was used to develop the survey. First, we reviewed previous studies and surveys on parental health beliefs regarding vaccination to develop content domains and draft initial survey items. Focus groups of parents and pediatricians generated additional themes and survey items. Six immunization experts reviewed the items in the resulting draft survey and ranked them on a 1-5 scale for significance in identifying vaccine-hesitant parents (5 indicative of a highly significant item). The lowest third of ranked items were dropped. The revised survey was pretested with 25 parents to assess face validity, usability and item understandability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines survey was constructed using qualitative methodology to identify vaccine-hesitant parents and has content and face validity. Further psychometric testing is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA USA. djopel@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Opel
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mangione-Smith
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Korfiatis
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wiese
authors.forename: Sheryl
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Catz
authors.forename: Diane P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014612:Vaccines